Wentworth Park's leading trainer Jodie Lord has four of the eight runners in Saturday night's $25,000 to the winner Ladbrokes Summer Six-Hundy but it seems only bad luck can prevent rising middle distance star Punter's Bandit taking out the 603m race.
Punter's Bandit is unbeaten in three Gosford starts, winning a heat and final of the Beast Unleashed Gold Cup over 515m there before making her 603m debut with a sizzling 34.21 victory on January 24.
While she had box one in the latter win, Punter's Bandit's box six draw on Saturday is better than it looks on paper.
Zipping Alabama, in box five, is a notoriously slow starter, while Punter's Bandit's kennelmate Coast Model, in box four, goes fast early and is a tight railer so is likely to put early pressure on arch rival Our Amelia.
The Jason Magri-trained Our Amelia led throughout from box two to win over 603m at Gosford on January 24 but will need to jump fast on Saturday if she is to secure an uninterrupted run in the early stages.
Jodie Lord's other Six-Hundy entries, Silver Luck in box one and Grim Madara in eight, are perfectly drawn but lack the class of Punter's Bandit.
Lord looks set for a big night at Gosford with She's A Pearl expected to take out the 515m Ladbrokes Queen Of The Coast, a victory which would take her record to 29 wins from 47 starts.
She's A Pearl stumbled and almost fell at box rise when fifth, from box one, in the Gosford Beast Unleashed Cup final on January 3 but has since won brilliantly in each of two Wentworth Park appearances.
Her defeat of Gatlin in the January 21 final of the group 1 Ladbrokes Paws Of Thunder was arguably the champion's bravest performance, as she had to work hard from box eight to be trailing tearaway leader Reflections going through the catching pen before holding off the runner-up to score by two lengths.
She's A Pearl's 29.50 set new race record figures for the time-honoured Paws Of Thunder.
An interesting sidelight to Saturday's Gosford card is the first middle distance outing of the Peter Lagogiane-trained French Martini, who has box five in race seven, a 603m fifth grade.
Lagogiane is confident French Martini, who has won 13 of 27 races up to 520m, will have no trouble running the extra distance.
"With French Martini it's all about her getting clear air when she jumps away and if that happens on Saturday night I'm confident the distance won't worry her and she will win,'' Lagogiane said.
"I am hoping to have her in the upcoming 600m group 1 Rookie Rebel at The Meadows and then I plan to bring her back to sprints, looking at races like the Golden Easter Egg at Wentworth Park.''
Best "match race" at Gosford looms as the clash of the Susan Smith-trained pair Vamoose and My Hepburn in the Ladbrokes Lightning final over 388m.
In the July 31 heats Vamoose began with his customary brilliance to lead throughout in a scorching 21.75, while My Hepburn was only slightly slower in crossing to the rails from box seven and scoring in 21.90.
Each go into Saturday's race with extraordinary Gosford 388m records, Vamoose being undefeated in five appearances and My Hepburn successful in seven of nine outings.
Vamoose likes to run in the middle of the track so seems nicely placed in box five, while My Hepburn will relish box two considering she looked for the rails after jumping from box seven in her heat.
